The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit organization in Montgomery, Alabama, was founded in the 1970s to help minorities litigate against civil rights abuses.
Located in the same block as Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which was once pastored by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., the center has effectively established programs and implemented actions over the last three decades towards fulfilling its mission.
A core initiative for the center is a classroom program started in 1991 called "Teaching Tolerance," that involves more than 400,000 teachers and includes materials promoting "interracial and intercultural understanding".
The SPLC also funds a three-year, $100,000 civil rights litigation program in Georgia designed to stem federal cutbacks in programs that provide free legal assistance to poor people in civil actions.
Additionally, the center produces the Intelligence Report, a magazine that tracks hate groups and covers right-wing extremists.
The law center's co-founder and chief trial counsel, Morris Dees, has successfully handled civil rights cases for more than 30 years--in 1973 his federal lawsuit had the practical effect of forcing funeral homes to provide equal services to blacks and whites.
As a white lawyer, Dees has been instrumental in crusading against racial intolerance by using lawsuits to destroy the finances of hate groups.
Since 1979 he has won a series of six, countrywide civil rights suits against the Ku Klux Klan and other Neo-Nazi groups accused of criminal activity.
In every case, Dees secured multi-million dollar judgments against the convicted defendants to effectively put them out of business.
